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Libyan Art
Libyan art remains an unexplored branch of Libyan culture, just as many of
its other aspects. This site will attempt to provide an outline of ancient Libyan
art, and help its share by collecting and organising some
original photos and information from this
human's unique past.
Libyan Art Galleries
Our art galleries aim to build a digital collection of natural prehistoric rock art drawings and engravings from various sites across Libya, including Jabel Awaynat (Jebel Uweinat), Wadi Metkhandoush, and Tadrart Acacus (Jebel Akakus), as well as photo galleries of Libya's main archaeological and tourist sites, Libyan traditional crafts & industries, Tuareg jewellery, Libyan cities, Libyan people, and natural landscapes.
Rock Art Galleries
Unlike real museums, these galleries are built by countless generations of ordinary human beings across thousands of years, using only rock as a surface material and natural pigments and ochre as colour. So to speak, the rock art galleries of Acacus [/Akakous/] are an intricate collection of cave sites integrated along a network of valleys across the Acacus mountains and the valleys of the Great Sahara Desert. In a sense Acacus is a city devoted to prehistoric art galleries, which collectively form a massive library of ancient and still obscure data; full of past life the world is yet to awake to, and hence Acacus is one of Libya's five world heritage sites. An incredible amount of research and work needs to be done before we can begin to grasp this wonderful reality, and understand the complete symbolism at the heart of this enigmatic, stylish and artistic civilisation, if not civilisations, the world has forgotten.
Apart
from the minimal, animal and the illusive human elements widely propagated with
hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and the late farmers, the more complex symbols
and more serious tools used to convey the hidden intended messages have so far
proved an obstacle difficult to tackle. The best reasons for this
would naturally include lack of catalogued data, isolation, and most importantly
lack of proper, well-intentioned studies to unlock their hidden secrets and unravel
their sacred mystery for the whole world to see. The Main Wadis of Acacus
There are hundreds of wadis in the region, and Wadi Tashwinat
alone houses around 101 wadis. The following are only a tiny selection of the
most popular ones:
- Adad: engravings of human figures, probably in mystical ceremonies.
- Awiss (Auis): the northern section of Acacus, various wadis and sites of paintings and engravings of animals, human figures, and the home of abstract and stylish engravings, referred to as "ichthyomorph" by Mori, and thought to be the most ancient images
of human figures in the Sahara.
- Tin Anewen: busy collection of red paintings of the Berber tifinagh script, palm trees, cattle, human figures, some with triangular bodies, in various social scenes, bulls, camels, etc.
- Tin Asheh: snake, stick-like heads, cows, engravings of rhino, lion and giraffe.
- Tin Emateli.
- Tin Kawia.
- Tin Khaliqa (Haliga or Khaliga): animal paintings in red.
- Tin Lalen: mystical and fertility engravings, engravings of ostrich, giraffe, bulls, cows, lions, and Berber writing; paintings of animals and figures.
- Wadi Acacus.
- Wadi Adar n Dzhalko.
- Wadi Afar: images of human figures and chariots.
- Wadi Afdhar (Afozedzhar): the site of the big rock arch and paintings of stylish human figures (including two green figures) and animals, including large antelope..
- Wadi Akhar.
- Wadi Aminaner: site of a borehole.
- Wadi Amisneki: Berber alphabet of tifinagh, engravings, giraffes,
cows.
- Wadi Anshal: figure of a waddan, engravings of elephants, giraffe, bulls, and defacement.
- Wadi Atkarni
- Wadi Bubu: fighting scene.
- Wadi Chinturakh.
- Wadi Eharmallen
- Wadi Esranen.
- Wadi Imerka:
- Wadi Imha: cattle, round heads, possible boat, snake, elephant, and human figures with stick-like heads.
- Wadi In Aghallasham.
- Wadi Inarian: round heads, cows, and a woman with an animal head.
- Wadi Indede: engravings of giraffes and an elephant; paintings of a bull and a woman with a stick-like head.
- Wadi In-Eide: paintings of cows, ostrich, and a group of women.
- Wadi Ikbar.
- Wadi In-Taharin (Taherin): paintings of fighting scenes, red & white figures, red & white camels, cattle and camel engravings, triangular bodies.
- Wadi Kessan.
- Wadi Kessi: wild animals.
- Wadi Mahreggeli: animal paintings.
- Wadi Mahugad: paintings of animals and figures.
- Wadi Selfufet: animal engravings.
- Wadi Senadder: human figures with stick heads, engravings, cattle, multicolour camels, chariot, and possibly a mouflon.
- Wadi Sughd.
- Wadi Tafozedzhart.
- Wadi Takdhalt: engraving of a map of Wadi Tashwinat, paintings of animals, bird-men, red & white human figures dancing, Tuareg alphabet and writings.
- Wadi Talwawt.
- Wadi Tanezuft.
- Wadi Targhit: animal paintings in ochre and white: the location of some of the best paintings and engravings in Acacus, like "the hunting scene", giraffes, elephants and chariots; some were defaced.
- Wadi Tasbet.
- Wadi Tashwinat: the capital of Acacus: there are more than 100 wadis (or valleys) open into this gigantic wadi: paintings and engravings of all kinds, including round heads, cattle, engravings of writings, riders, camels, human figures in strange or religious positions (like hands raised up in jubilation or adoration), rhino paintings, chariots, etc.
- Wadi Tanetfat.
- Wadi Tanshalt: large polychrome and other scenes; hunting scenes, round heads, bulls, domestic animals and camels.
- Wadi Terzabel.
- Wadi Tibastiwen: animal engravings, paintings of cattle, camel engravings.
- Wadi Tiheden: hunting scenes, and fighting scenes with fighters wearing horned helmets of head-gear.
- Wadi Tin Alamen
- Wadi Tin Lebbo (In Allabu): various good paintings of animals and expressive human figures in red & white.
- Wadi Udhohen: painting of a chariot.
- Wan Amil or Melol: paintings of social scenes and activities, wedding scene, hair-wash scene, hunting scenes, red & white giraffes, red & white human figures, and fighting or war scenes.
- Wan Farden (In-Ferdan): fine red paintings of bulls and human figures holding bows & arrows.
- Wan Harig (not far from Tin Newen): scene of antelope hunting (Pastoral work?), and more than 50 holes in the wall of the shelter, in pairs, some of which are nearly 40 meters high from the floor and as much meters below the top.
- Wan Imlal: round head woman, hunting scenes.
- Wan Mahugag: a 5400 year-old mummy , also known as Wan Muhuggiag mummy.
- Wan Tabu
The Wadis of Messak Mellet & Settafet And Metkhandoush- Wadi Methkhandoush (Metkhandouch): located
east of Wan Casa, between the barren plateaux of the Messak Settafet and the stretch of land towards the sand dunes of Edhan Murzuk in the south. This region once was rich in lakes and rivers where crocodile, elephants and giraffes roamed the land, as preserved on its rocks. Among the best visited art sites are the fighting cats.
- Messak Settafet & Mellet: a half-moon-shaped range of mountains below Wadi Alajal and north of Edhan Murzuk, which runs in a south-west direction all the way to Wan Casa. The first range (the eastern part) is Messak Settafet, while the western part (near Acacus) is Messak Mellet. Various engravings of animals, humans and mythical beings are to be found in a number of valleys across the range.
- Wadi Tidwa (Tidua or Tidoua): Messak Mellet: engravings of anthropomorphic
animals and mystical figures, including a bas-relief of the "Lycaon man":
a fabulous animal with human features, and carries an emblem which is probably
a lion head, as other Robusta engravings from the same valley seem to carry a
number of lion heads, as a symbol of power: to hunt a lion indicates bravery
and power.
- Wadi Tiksateen: engraved scenes of a woman milking a cow, buffalo, and elephant.
- Wadi In Ghanjuwan: elephant engravings.
- Wadi Wan Habeter: giraffe engravings.
- Wadi Tilizaghen: Messak: engravings of animals, including elephants and rhinos; including one of the first Saharan rock pictures to be made known in Europe, namely an engraving known as the "Garamantian Apollo", which was discovered by Barth in 1850.
- Wadi Takabar: Messak: engravings of figures including a masked dancer or a dancer with a head of a cat-like animal (theriomorphic figure)
- Wadi Alamasse: Messak: an impressive composition which includes many elephants and an engraving of a human figure with dog-like head in stylish attaire: lycaon type figure, wearing wristbands and carries a club, with a small (or baby) lycaon between its legs. Also an engraving of a bovid with horn ornaments.
- Wadi Aramas: Messak: an engraving of a woman with big breasts and legs open, suggesting fertility without introducing a male figure, as in the Awiss engravings which show both a man and a woman. Also the site of some sophesticated symbolism which may indicate a worship of some sort, including a human figure with crossed band and tiara or Egyptian-like crown, and a prince-like human figure wiith the ostrich fan in one hand and sitting in a position very much like a scene from an Egyptian tomb, where Egyptian engravings appear to portray a much stylised figures of the same Libyan type.
- Wadi Gedid: an engraving of a woman with two orifices, probably giving birth.
- Wadi Imrawen: human figures with ass heads.
- Wadi Takabar: a masked herder and a dancing mask wearer, horned and masked heads, devil-like gods?
Our Gallery List
Prehistoric rock map of Wadi Tashwinat
An ancient map of Wadi Tashwinat. See Tashwinat for details.
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